Author: Kbaumlier

Kristen Baumlier’s work spans the full spectrum of interdisciplinary media, including performance, interactive installation, video and audio works.
Spending Time Under a Big Mac: Kbaumlier studio update

Spending Time Under a Big Mac: Kbaumlier studio update

Last week I went to a McDonald’s drive-through, ordered a Big Mac, large fry, and a coke.  The experience was sort of surreal.  I haven’t eaten McDonald’s for years, I don’t eat fast food, and don’t go driving through  drive-through lanes to get my food.  The last time I was this close to a drive-through window  was when I videotaped a Burger King drive-through for a few hours for a video project a few summers ago.

The funny thing about McDonald’s food  is that even though I haven’t been close to it in years – it always smells the same, looks the same, and feels familiar.

When I was a kid, my Dad had a job when he would sometimes travel. When he was out of town, we would go out to eat at least once as a treat.  When I was young it was McDonald’s.  When we got older it became Taco Bell or A & W.

I remember when I was little, my McDonald’s of choice was a Filet of Fish, sharing a large fry with my brothers, and a orange soda.  When I got older – it became the Big Mac as my sandwich, my own large fry, and the orange soda.

Last week I spent some time working on some test shoots in my studio  with the McDonald’s food that I purchased.  When I was photographing the Big Mac I ended up spending lots of time literally underneath it, thinking about the familiar relationship I still have with it after all these years, and amazed by how long the smell of the food stayed in my studio.

What’s in a Big Mac?  According to McDonald’s web site it is made of : 100% Beef Patty, Big Mac Bun, Pasteurized Process American Cheese, Big Mac Sauce, Lettuce, Pickle Slices, Onions.

What’s really in the Bun and Sauce – the two mysterious ingredients of the burger? Lots of ingredients.

Big Mac Bun:
— Enriched flour (bleached wheat flour, malted barley flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid, enzymes)
— water
— high fructose corn syrup
— sugar
— soybean oil and/or partially hydrogenated soybean oil

The bun also contains 2% or less of the following:
— salt
— calcium sulfate
— calcium carbonate
— wheat gluten
— ammonium sulfate
— ammonium chloride
— sodium stearoyl lactylate *
— datem *
— ascorbic acid*
— azodicarbonamide*
— mono- and diglycerides*
— ethoxylated monoglycerides*
— monocalcium phosphate*
— enzymes*
— guar gum*
— calcium peroxide*
— soy flour*
— calcium propionate (preservative)
— sodium propionate (preservative)
— soy lecithin
— sesame seed.

* indicates: dough conditioner
Big Mac Sauce:
— Soybean oil
— pickle relish (which is made of:)
— diced pickles
— high fructose corn syrup
— sugar
— vinegar
— corn syrup
— salt
— calcium chloride
— xanthan gum
— potassium sorbate (preservative)
— spice extractives
— polysorbate 80
— distilled vinegar
— water
— egg yolks
— high fructose corn syrup
— onion powder
— mustard seed
— salt
— spices
— propylene glycol alginate
— sodium benzoate (preservative)
— mustard bran
— sugar
— garlic powder
— vegetable protein (hydrolyzed corn, soy and wheat) – fancy name for MSG
— caramel color
— extractives of paprika
— soy lecithin
— turmeric (color)
— calcium disodium EDTA (protect flavor)

My photo shoot turned out pretty well.  I’m not sure I’m going to use the burger image in a piece – but it was interesting to be under the Big Mac for a while and to revisit a familiar sandwich that still seems like an old friend.

 

Image Source:
Kristen Baumlier

Links:

Big Mac Ingredients Article

 

A Little Bit Means a Lot?  Don’t Gloss Over Lip Gloss

A Little Bit Means a Lot? Don’t Gloss Over Lip Gloss

On one of my first days as Department Head where I work, the Head of our Marketing Department came to my office asking for a favor.  Would I be willing to go downtown and do an interview for the local arts and culture show, Applause, on WVIZ, or local PBS station – and we had to leave in 15 minutes?

I said yes, partially as a favor to her, and also to help support the Department and school.  I had no makeup or brush, but did have a colored lipgloss in my purse.  After seeing myself I the monitor in the tv studio, I had feelings of gratitude for the lipgloss – since it made me look like I was “tv-ready” – and I almost looked like I had makeup on.

Since then, I always have promoted the use of lipgloss as a quick way to look as if you put on makeup – or as a fast way to look a little fresher or cleaned up.

I recently read about some of the discussion that has been occurring due to a feature that Dr. Oz did about lipgloss, that focused on potential health affects that can be caused by using lip gloss which contains petroleum jelly, which comes from petroleum.  The health reports focus on putting this on your lips means that you end up eating it – and ingesting over 10 years on average 7 pounds.

In Europe, many petroleum jelly products have been banned, and scientists are concerned that the use of lipgloss might be linked to cancer.   Studies have shown that women with breast cancer have twice the levels of hydrocarbons (substances found in petroleum jelly) in their breasts than women who haven’t had breast cancer.

What can be used instead?  Getting a product that does not has mineral oil or petroleum jelly.  Lipglosses can be made with beeswax, or other natural materials that are.

Yesterday I headed to the coop – to get a new lipgloss that does not contain mineral oil or petroleum.  I haven’t gotten rid of my other glosses yet… I am still checking the ingredients and working on getting ready to let them go (I think.)

Grow Your Food Stamps – Food Stamps and Gardens

Grow Your Food Stamps – Food Stamps and Gardens

The federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or food stamps can be used to buy seeds and plants, not just foods.  Over 46 million Americans use food stamps (almost 15 percent of the U.S.)  This information is not always publicized, and most SNAP recipients are not aware of this alternative use for their electronic benefit transfer (EBT).   This information also isn’t often known or mentioned in food-justice and urban-framing circles.  This option for using SNAP funds was added as an amendment to the Food Stamps Act in 1973 by Sen. James Allen (D-Ala.).

Daniel Bowman Simon, a garden advocate and graduate student, didn’t know of the provision until 2008, when someone mentioned it to him during at a farmers market.  He talked to others, and got support for starting a project to help inform people on food stamps about the potential support to grow food.

Simon started the nonprofit called SNAP Gardens to spread the word about this by producing posters in several languages advising SNAP recipients that they can use their benefits for seeds. Since starting the project, requests for the posters from farmers markets in 25 states have come in.  The posters are also designed to be displayed in local SNAP offices, community centers, or public housing locations.

An online resource called SNAP-Ed Connection offers training and education materials for SNAP providers who want to give would-be gardeners more guidance and support.

With the help of a $1,000 microgrant from the non-profit organization Awesome Food, SNAP Gardens will start working with The Dinner Garden (a group that sends out free starter packs of seeds by request) to set up a telephone hotline with gardening information.

Part of the grant will also pay to include a flyer about using EBT for seeds with every packet The Dinner Garden sends out, with the assumption that many of those requesting free seeds might also be eligible for SNAP.

Image Source:
SNAP Gardens

Links:

SNAP Gardens

SNAP Gardens Posters

Awesome Food

The Dinner Garden

Plants that can Call for Help and Glacier Embracing Suits: The Work of Kate Hartman

Plants that can Call for Help and Glacier Embracing Suits: The Work of Kate Hartman

Artist Kate Hartman explores human communication in her work by using wearable technologies and physical computing.  Some of her past work includes making muttering hats or clothes that communicate to the wearer.

Some of her pieces have explored  technology working with natural systems including being part of a team that developed  Botanicalls, a device that allows neglected plants to call and send Twitter messages for assistance.   Botanicalls was shown at MoMA a the “Talk to Me” exhibition last summer and was intended to be eventually sold at the design store, so that people could use it.  The piece was made with 3 collaborators, and started in 2006.

Botanicalls aims to open a new channel of communication between plants and humans, in an effort to promote successful inter-species understanding.   The artists are empowering both by inventing new avenues of interaction. Plants that might otherwise be neglected are given the ability to call and text message people to request assistance. People who are unsure of their ability to effectively care for growing things are given visual and aural clues using common human methods of communication.

Current projects of hers include  working with glaciers.  She got interested in glaciers due to personal experience, and also since they represent icons of climate change.  Hartman’s Glacier-Embracing Suit was a suit you could wear, and was designed to make it comfortable to embrace a glacier.

This suit explores  “body” language and non-verbal communication. Hartman writes that it is intended for awkward introductory glacier encounters, it acts as an “ice breaker”, better enabling a person to lie prone on the surface of the glacier and give it a hug. Worn on the front of the body, the reflective padded material serves to mediate the difference in temperatures between the human body and the glacial ice.

The suit is currently being used by a 18-year old documentary filmmaker working on a film called An Inconvenient Youth which is about kids and climate change.   She used the suit in Nepal while shooting.

Interested in wearable communication?  I recently listened to Hartman’s TED Talk, where she talks about her work, communication, and technology.

Image Source:
www.katehartman.com

 

Links:

Kate Hartman- The Art of  Wearable communicatiom- Ted Talk

www.katehartman.com

www.botanicalls.com/

 

 

Clean Your Jeans in the Freezer?  Levis is Making More Jeans with Less Water

Clean Your Jeans in the Freezer? Levis is Making More Jeans with Less Water

A typical pair of blue jeans consumes 919 gallons of water during its life cycle, which is enough water to fill 5 spa-size bathtubs.  This water includes the irrigation of the cotton, stitching the fabric, and washing them.  This past year, a new line of Levis jeans have been developed with future water shortages in mind.

The Levis company is planning ahead, for future water shortages caused by climate change that could make cotton too expensive or scarce, and possibly bankrupt the company. Behind each pair of jeans is two pounds of cotton.

Some new changes include developing a new non-profit program to teach farmers in India, Pakistan, Brazil and West and Central Africa new irrigation and rainwater-capture techniques.  Another new development is new stone-washed denim which is smoothed with rocks but does not use any water.

The reason for the company’s interest in conserving water began last year when floods in Pakistan and a drought in China ruined cotton crops and made prices higher.  This increase of droughts and floods support the predicted patterns of global warming.

The cotton grown with the new farming methods is called by Levis Strauss as the “better cotton” initiative. About 5% of the cotton used in the two million pairs of jeans made this fall was grown with the sustainable method. The company wants that number to rise to 20% by 2015.

All Levis jeans have new tags in them that suggest that the owner wash them less and only use cold water.  Wash your jeans less?  Is there an alternative to wearing dirty and stinky pants?  One way to get them clean is to put them in the freezer, a practice that will kill germs that cause them to smell.

I’ve been wearing my Levis jeans for 2-3 days now.   Tonight, I am going to try the freezer method to clean them – and will report back how it works.

 

Image Source:
Levis Water<Less

Links:

Levis Water<Less

More Jeans – Less Water – from LS&Co. Unzipped